Thanks for a most comprehensive review Kuki. We've been on the Westerdam and it was very interesting to "see it through someone elses eyes". As new cruisers we would like to book a similar style of cruise next time, (i.e. as summed up in your first two paragraphs). In your opinion, what ships should we be considering (or avoiding)? Any advice would be appreciated.

Agree with you on food and food service on Celebrity and would give edge to Holland on overall service.Personally like the smaller ships for overall cruise experience in order to meet lasting friends and also enjoy their company while on the ship.Have been on too many Rcl cruises where we stood in long lines to do everything from shows to embarcation ice shows etc Swore off this after my army days many years ago.Zenith size on Celebrity was perfect and it has not changed thru the yrs. since our last trip in early 90,s.It will be interesting to see if Holland will get more families with their new emphasis on children activities.After some 30 cruises we like them all and sure beats staying at home.

Maybe Kuki has already answered you directly, but in case he hasn't, our Westerdam cruise was for 12 nights (Rome - Barcelona). We had three formal evenings, and I would say the majority of the men wore formal dinner suits each time, with one or two wearing white jackets. Having said that, we shared a table with a couple who were very, very experienced cruisers and he just wore a dark suit every night and he always looked very smart.